1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a card bus connector, and particularly to a card bus connector which facilitates electrostatic discharge from an inserted input/output card to grounding traces on a printed circuit board on which the card bus connector is mounted.
2. The Prior Art
Portable computers equipped with card bus connectors for receiving input/output (I/O) cards inserted therein which expand the function of the computer have become dominating products in the market. The card bus connector is mounted on a printed circuit board (PCB) of the computer and the I/O card has metallic covers. A good grounding path must be provided between the I/O card and the PCB so that when the I/O card is inserted into the card bus connector electrostatic charges accumulated on the metallic covers of the I/O card can be discharged therethrough. If an adequate grounding path is not provided, the excessive noise resulting from the accumulated charges on the I/O card will interfere with the signal transmission between the card and the computer system.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a conventional card bus connector 14 includes a pair of guiding arms 16 each including a metal strip 18 and a pair of metallic standoffs 20 for providing a grounding path from metallic covers 12 (only one shown) of an inserted I/O card 10 to a PCB 22 on which the card bus connector 14 is mounted. However, the speed of electrostatic discharge is hindered by the limited number of standoffs 20 which may adversely affect signal transmission between the I/O card 10 and the card bus connector 14 especially during high speed signal transmission.
Hence, an improved card bus connector is needed to improve the electrostatic discharge capabilities of conventional card bus connectors.